The present day golfer wants a hand tool that performs many different functions but yet remains easy to use and is compact enough to fit into a pocket in a golf shirt or slacks. Anybody who has played golf in the early mornings to dusk has experienced varying playing conditions such as damp and muddy in the early mornings to dry and dusty in the late afternoon sunshine. Golf shoes need to have mud removed from the cleats and damaged cleats changed. Golf clubs, especially irons, need their grooves continuously cleaned when taking a divot during a golf shot while the turf is in muddy or wet conditions. Soft greens dimple and leave a ball mark when pitching a lofted golf shot onto them whether the conditions are wet or dry on the golf course. Especially, in the early morning dew or when the groundskeeper waters the course, a golfer who has taken several clubs from the golf bag or cart to use in and around the green wants to keep the grips and shaft of the clubs off the wet ground which can be damaged by the corrosive water that accumulate in and around the green that contains various chemical fertilizers and the like in it. Often a cleat or spike becomes damaged on a golf shoe and needs to be removed from the golf shoe during a round of golf. When an attempt is made to remove the cleat, there is often dried mud and debris in the holes surrounding the spike that can be rock hard. A spike hole reamer of some type is required to free this debris so the cleat or spike can be removed quickly between holes before using the spike wrench to twist off the spike. There are times during every round of golf when the ground at one of the tee boxes is very hard and pancaked such that the placement of a golf tee in the ground becomes difficult at best or results in a number of broken tees and scraped fingers. Also upon striking the golf ball, the tee becomes buried in the ground especially if the golfer tops the ball on his drive off the tee box making it virtually impossible for the golfer to retrieve the tee stuck in the ground with its head below the surface. In both of these instances, a tool of some type is required to place the tee in the ground at varying heights for an iron or wood shot or to remove a buried tee from the ground after the golf shot. And of course during most rounds a beverage or two maybe purchased that has a cap on it requiring a bottle opener or a pop top tab on it requiring a grabber or the like. Nothing is worse than cutting an expensive leather golf glove or, even worse, cutting a finger when attempting to remove a pop top tab that usually are sharp along their edges. Each of these above highlighted and well known conditions is familiar to those who play the game of golf and each instance requires a separate tool that can take up valuable space in the golf bag or load down a number of pockets that are needed for other items during a round of golf
Prior art reveals several different types of golf tools that take care of one or more of the above problems but do not take care of them all or creates a golf tool that can become damaging to the golfer's shirt and pants pockets when stored therein. Such golf tools are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,120 (GOLF TOOL) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,647 (MULTI-PURPOSE GOLF ACCESSORY).
While both of these prior art devices address at least some of the aspects of the present invention such as portability and storage in a single golf tool, both the '120 and '647 patents lack the total number of multiple feature and functions provided by the present invention. The spike hole reamer, spike cleaner and buried tee puller functions are missing from the functions that these prior art devices can perform. None of these cited